DiS' Class Of 2009 is comprised of bands our core contributors really think you should be listening to. Simple as. We're not necessarily saying they'll 'blow up' or 'cross over' or any of that industry nonsense, but we are saying we think they're great and have a hunch at least some of you will agree...

---

Passion Pit

Although the potential was always there with songs like 'Kids' and 'Time To Pretend', MGMT's stratospheric rise to super-mega-success and, ultimately, absolute ubiquity last year came as something of a surprise to this writer. Perhaps I underestimated them. Boston's Passion Pit - who also have their cheques picked up by Columbia - could be 2009's equivalent in indie-band-crosses-over-massively terms. But that's conjecture. What's more concrete is that their forthcoming UK debut EP, Chunk Of Change, is one of the loveliest things we've heard from a new new band in ages. The story goes like this: mainman Michael Angelakos originally wrote the songs and recorded them on his own as a present to his girlfriend (perhaps explaining titles like, erm, 'Cuddle Fuddle'). Friends eventually got hold of the tracks as well, and went nuts over them. Why? Imagine a warm cocktail of Postal Service electronic minimalism and Flaming Lips-ish euphoria; multiply that by a disco beat and you're some way to understanding the appeal. Excitingly, more recent tracks like 'Sleepyhead' - on the aforementioned EP, but not part of the original Valentine's mix - suggest a more expansive, layered leaning (check the looping BVs) might follow for the debut album proper, also due early this year. And when they land on these shores in February for their maiden UK tour, we're told to expect a five-piece; one man hunched over his laptop this promises not to be. Whether they go on to become this year's MGMT or not, we're thinking Passion Pit will be one of the year's more appreciated DiScoveries.

The Chunk Of Change EP is released on February 16th via Frenchkiss/Columbia, and the band tour with Hockey and Bear Hands the same month.